Gartner, Inc. and 1to1 Media recently announced the three finalists for the inaugural Customer User's Choice Award. The winner will be announced next month at the Gartner Customer Relationship Management Summit. At the event, a total of 19 organizations will be presented with awards for for demonstrating successful customer-based business strategy with resulting business impact.

The finalists are AT&T, EMI Music and Overstock.com. Each finalist will present their cases to attendees at the Gartner Customer Relationship Management Summit. The User's Choice Award winner will be selected by attendees of the conference.

The three finalists were chosen by a panel of judges, including Gartner analysts, 1to1 Media and business and academic experts, for their exemplary customer relationship strategy and unrivaled level of excellence in delivering the customer experience.

“CRM will have different meanings depending on the company. The goals, processes and metrics vary, as do the technologies used. The vision, the strategy used, the changes an organization goes through and the quality of their customer data are all keys to success. Here are great examples of the lessons learned and the best practices as companies pursue their own successful CRM objectives,” said Adam Sarner, principal research analyst at Gartner.

Along with honoring the three User’s Choice finalists, Gartner and 1to1 Media will present Customer Awards to 16 more organizations. “All 19 award winners demonstrated strong results, but the three User’s Choice finalists showed not only exceptional results, but also a highly creative and well-planned strategy designed to profitably meet customers’ expectations,” says Ginger Conlon, editor-in-chief of 1to1 Media.

This is the first year of the "Gartner & 1to1 Customer Awards.", The program was announced earlier this year as a replacement for the annual Gartner CRM Excellence Awards. The goal of the partnership is to establish a standard of excellence for customer-focused organizations and honor those companies that reach that level by delivering optimal customer experiences. This new combined awards program will highlight companies that are providing value to customers and shareholders by effectively bringing together strategy, technology and execution to deliver ideal customer experiences. The Customer Award winners will be honored in the following seven categories:

• Customer Strategy: Excellence in establishing an enterprisewide customer strategy
• EnterpriseCRM Optimization: Excellence in the use of full-suite technology
• Marketing Optimization: Excellence in the use of marketing automation
• New Media Optimization: Excellence in the use of new media
• Organizational Transformation: Excellence in establishing an enterprisewide customer strategy that creates a win-win for company and customers
• Sales Optimization: Excellence in the use of sales force automation
• Service Optimization: Excellence in customer service and support that is enabled by technology

The winners will be featured in the September/October 2008 issue of 1to1 Magazine, in a special issue of 1to1 Weekly and on both the Gartner and 1to1 Media Web sites.

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